In the Unrelenting Light at the Edge of Conscience. - 2013

Chicago, Illinois:: Ann Tyler,, 2013.. Edition of 3. 14" x 18" closed, 28" x 18h open; 124 pages. Hahnemühle Photo Rag Duo (acid-free, archival) with Hahnemühle protective spray. Ink-jet printing. Edges handpainted in acrylic gold and burnt sienna. 100% cotton vellum sheets with white foil stamping. 14 image plates of species. Bound in Gutenberg archival calfskin leather, blind stamped. Fabriano Tiziano end papers. Signed and numbered. Ann Tyler: "The graphic novel In the Unrelenting Light at the Edge of Conscience is a science fiction tale in which the violent actions of governments in our world have created new life forms in a world somewhere in deep space. The new species and their relationship to violence are discovered through space / time laboratory investigations carried out by an 'experimenter.' The narrative is structured for the viewer to also undergo a process of discovery as he/she moves through a narrative combining stream of conscious rumination, traditional description, imagery, poetry, and scientific information. The narrative and imagery move between the possible and the impossible, from the outer world to the inner world. After establishing this causal relationship between the two worlds - human actions and new life forms in the universe - the narrative then shifts and begins to allude to the possibility that this other world may not be an exterior universe but may instead be the universe of the mind. This other world is possibly a result of larger human actions upon individual memory. "Edge of Conscience refers to what lies just out of reach in our memory. While unseen it still plagues us. Conscience contains the multiple meanings of the conscious mind and morality. Unrelenting Light refers to parts of our memory that are difficult to examine and when once illuminated are understood to be a relentless part of individual experience. "…From a metafictional perspective the author is the 'experimenter.' The artist book itself is an experiment - an attempt to understand the impact of history on the individual and society and how we absorb the history we live through." Ann Tyler, additional details about the book: "The narrative is built around the conceit of how I make the images - layering an existing image, digging down, and discovering new forms. (In the actual process of making them I then build up many layers of color to create the new forms and the original disappears.) "The coding of the species (the white foil stamping) is an invented scientific notation - the first numbers are longitude and latitude translated totally into minutes - thus reinforcing the idea of geographic time. It is the longitude and latitude where the original photograph is taken. The second coding number is actually the date the photograph was taken. "I have made up the 'Latin' species names. They combine existing species words and 'Latinized' words relating to the image and the original photo. ..  "The section describing the originals also has the longitude and latitude coding which would allow the viewer to refer back with some of the images and know from what original circumstance it was derived. I intentionally do not show any of the originals in the book nor do I describe every original as I believed that would destroy the surreal reality I have constructed by revealing too much.